"1 After these things the word of the Lord came unto Abram in a vision,
saying, Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward.

2 And Abram said, LORD God, what wilt thou give me, seeing I go childless,
and the steward of my house is this Eliezer of Damascus?

3 And Abram said, Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born
in my house is mine heir.

4 And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not
be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall
be thine heir.

5 And he brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven, and
tell the stars, if thou be able to number them: and he said unto him, So
shall thy seed be.

6 And he believed in the LORD; and he counted it to him for
righteousness." - Genesis 15:1-6

Here we read of Abraham, and his dialogue with God in reference to God
giving him a son. In chapter 15 of Genesis, God made this incredible
promise to Abraham, that he would give Abraham a son. Abraham, around
this time was about 85 years old when he had this conversation with God.
He was well beyond the age of conceiving children with his 75 year old
wife, Sarah. Yet, God promised Abraham that he would give him a son.
In verse 3, we see Abraham's discouragement towards God, because he goes
on to say, "Behold, to me thou hast given no seed: and, lo, one born in my
house is mine heir."

We see here that Abraham has a desire to have a son, and he has perhaps
carried this desire since the days of his youth, which is a very long
time. Yet notice what God goes on to say in verse 4.

"And, behold, the word of the Lord came unto him, saying, This shall not
be thine heir; but he that shall come forth out of thine own bowels shall
be thine heir."

Notice the kindness of God's reply. God, in his mercy, does not rebuke
Abraham for his finger-pointing at God for not giving him a son, but
rather, he comforts Abraham with a promise that one day, a child would be
born which would be his heir.

And then finally, notice the faith of Abraham. Verse 6 says, "And he
believed in the Lord; and he counted it to him for righteousness."
Romans chapter 4 verse 3 says it this way, "For what saith the scripture?
Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness."
Also, another place in the Bible says it again, this time in James chapter
2 verse 23, "And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed
God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the
Friend of God."

Notice in Genesis, Abraham ceased from his complaining towards God, and
accepted at face value exactly what God said. God said he would give him
a son, and Abraham believed that. He trusted God's word. He did not
require any sort of sign. He didn't ask for God to prove it somehow. He
just simply believed God. He believed the words which God spoke.
You know, if we are to believe God, we must believe what he says. The
Bible says, "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of
God." - Romans 10:17

In order for anyone to believe God, they have to listen to the Bible.
They must believe what it says. Without believing the Bible, there can be
absolutely no faith towards God. People wonder why God doesn't just show
up on their doorstep, and prove to them personally that he is God. But
they don't understand that it doesn't work that way.

God's ways are not our ways. God wants us to believe exactly what he
said, just like Abraham did. When this is done, we will not need God to
show up on our doorstep, like he did with Doubting Thomas. Jesus said to
Thomas, "Thomas, because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed: blessed
are they that have not seen, and yet have believed." - John 20:29
There is another great example in the Bible of faith towards God that
relates to the same faith of Abraham that I want to show you. It is also
found in the book of John.

John chapter 4, verses 46-50 says:

"46 So Jesus came again into Cana of Galilee, where he made the water
wine. And there was a certain nobleman, whose son was sick at Capernaum.

47 When he heard that Jesus was come out of Judaea into Galilee, he went
unto him, and besought him that he would come down, and heal his son: for
he was at the point of death.

48 Then said Jesus unto him, Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will not
believe.

49 The nobleman saith unto him, Sir, come down ere my child die.

50 Jesus saith unto him, Go thy way; thy son liveth. And the man believed
the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and he went his way."

Here we read of a certain nobleman who had a son that was sick and ready
to die. Like Abraham, this nobleman had a child on his mind that troubled
him. He also took his complaint to God, like Abraham did. But notice the
reply that Jesus gave to the nobleman. He said in verse 48, "Except ye
see signs and wonders, ye will not believe."

Jesus was pointing to the fact that the Jews require a sign from God for
everything. Paul said in his letter to the Corinthians, "For the Jews
require a sign, and the Greeks seek after wisdom: But we preach Christ
crucified, unto the Jews a stumblingblock, and unto the Greeks
foolishness." - 1 Corinthians 1:22-23

It is unfortunate that we have people today in this world who absolutely
refuse to believe in God unless they see some sort of sign or miracle for
themselves. Jesus said a wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a
sign, and no sign shall be given to it except the sign of Jonah the
prophet. The risen Jesus Christ himself is the only sign he will give to
us. And Jesus is the incarnate Word. Jesus is the Word made flesh. So
the Word of God is the sign. The Bible is our sign. We must believe it.
It is this miraculous book that is a sign from God above. The words in
this book are a sign in and of itself. It requires nothing more, nothing
less. The letters on its pages speak truth, and they are settled in
heaven and on earth forever.

Now notice the nobleman's persistence in 49. The Bible says that the man
said, "Sir, come down ere my child die." By the way, that word 'ere'
means 'before.' So in essence, he said, "Sir come down before my child
dies."

Notice the nobleman, like Abraham, only had one thing on his mind - that
God would grant him his request in regards to his son. Abraham wanted a
son. The nobleman wanted his son to live. And notice the Lord's
comforting words to the nobleman in verse 50: "Go thy way, thy son
liveth. And the man believed the word that Jesus had spoken unto him, and
he went his way."

You see, the man simply believed those comforting words of God. He took
the words of Jesus at face value. He knew that if there was anyone who
could help him in this dire situation, it was Jesus. He knew that there
was nobody else out there who could heal his son. Only Jesus had the
answer. Not the priests. Not the lawyers. No earthly doctor, or
physician could help. Only God.

And notice how the Bible says that the man believed the word that Jesus
had spoken unto him.

You know, if we would just take the time to listen to the word of God, and
BELIEVE what he says, we wouldn't require any sign or wonder. His word
would be sufficient. Jesus said that if they won't hear Moses and the
prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead.
That's shocking - that people would still refuse to be persuaded to repent
even though God would actually perform a miracle of resurrecting a person
from the dead. I think that's outrageous, if you ask me. Here you have
some unbeliever going around mocking God, and disbelieving everything
Christians are telling him, and yet, if God goes on to perform a great
miracle such as raising a man from the dead, and yet the unbeliever still
goes on in his stubborn way, my friend, that is quite outrageous!
But God said that if they don't hear the Bible, a miracle such as
resurrecting a man from the dead would still not be enough to persuade
them. Why? Because believing God's word is sufficient. We do not need
anything else. His word is perfect. The words contained in scripture
speak things that only a Holy and Righteous God can speak. The Bible's
prophecies of events were something that only a Real God could foretell
of.

My friend, you must believe God. There is no way around it. If you take
the Bible, and throw it out the window, do not think God is going to try
and speak to you any other sort of way. He is not going to speak to you
through the newspaper, or through some college textbook. Using the Bible
is how he speaks to the world. The Bible says that Jesus will smite the
earth with the sword of his mouth. And he does just that when we read and
believe what he says in the Bible. His words in that book do indeed cut
to the heart of every man, woman, and child in this world. The thoughts
of many hearts are revealed in that Holy Book.

And why does he use a book to speak to us? Because you can't argue with
what is written down. When you are at work, and you try to go against the
regulations, you cannot argue with your boss and say, "Well, nobody told
me I should not be sleeping at work." No, you can't do that because your
boss will throw it right back at you, "It's in the book. Didn't you read
the book? It's all right there." You can't argue with the police officer
and say, "Oh, officer, I had no idea that I had to drive the speedlimit."
He's going to look you right in the eye and say, "It was written on the
speed limit sign, '50 MPH.' How did you not know?"

It's the same way with God. It is written, it is written, it is written.
It is written so that we can listen any time we wish. It is written so we
can hear what God says when we get into bad situations. It is written so
that people cannot say, "Well nobody told me." Haven't you read it in the
book? It's all right there. It is written so that no one can have an
excuse.

So in conclusion, I'd like to say to you my friend, Believe in God, and be
saved. Believe God and repent before it's too late. If you have never
believe God's way of salvation, and if you are trusting in your own good
works to get you into heaven, let me suggest to you to repent, and to call
upon the name of the Lord Jesus. That's the only way to be saved.

"For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved." -
Romans 10:13